I recently reviewed Richard Stoltzman’s anthology of American clarinet and piano works called “Amber Waves” (RCA, 9/96), where he had scope to follow his particular enthusiasms in a relaxed way. Now he does the same thing more formally with three substantial concertos, all written for him and all recorded at Berlin sessions in 1993 in the presence of the composers, one of whom, Lukas Foss, conducts.
The 80-year-old Finnish composer, Einar Englund, has had less exposure here than Sallinen and Rautavaara but a number of his symphonies are now on CD (Finlandia and Ondine, 8/92). There’s something rather attractive about his clean, linear style, straightforwardly mainstream via Hindemith and Shostakovich, which has caused him to be compared to Rawsthorne. His writing is quietly expressive, never exaggerated, with its own kind of serenity in the “Serenata”.
The Foss is the most original piece here, personal and inventive throughout its deliberately contrasted moods and styles. Stoltzman as usual shows extraordinary control – note the pianissimo high F at the start of the cadenza to the first movement at 5'45''. The second movement is almost neo-classical: the third aleatoric. This builds up tension with a background of sliding strings and piano clusters straight into the finale, which opens with what Stoltzman calls a “silly theme”. This is a species of Mozartian parody, playing witty metrical games with tonal idioms and it all works.
As with the McKinley Sonata on “Amber Waves”, I found his the least interesting of these three concertos. He has written over 30 pieces for Stoltzman: this is his second concerto and a third has been completed. But the blues movement provides every opportunity Stoltzman needs for his ingenious microtonal tricks, including the famous upward Stoltzman slide. Altogether the CD, with fine performances all round, is a landmark in the clarinet repertoire from a unique exponent.'